In U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,413, granted Oct. 12, 1976, a type of elastomeric connector is disclosed which includes a core of elastomeric, flexible and resilient material around which is wrapped a thin insulating film containing multiple conductive traces. The film may be bonded to the core to provide a means to interconnect the traces of circuit boards. Connectors made in this manner are used to provide interconnections between printed circuit boards and the like, or in some cases printed circuit boards and flexible circuits wherein the traces are on very close centers. The connector utilizing this technique has the advantage of having the trace rendered by essentially the same process that traces are rendered on rigid and flexible printed circuit devices.
The invention represents an improvement utilizing conductive elastomeric connectors which connect circuit traces of printed circuit boards and the like and has as an object the provision of a high density electrical connector which is simple in manufacture and use. A further object is to provide an electrical connector for interconnecting circuit traces on close centers with few parts that can be assembled to provide essentially a one piece assembly for handling and use. A further object is to provide a connector which can be activated between two positions, one allowing an insertion or withdrawal of a daughter card relative to a mother board and the other latching the connector in a manner to effect an electrical interconnection of the traces on mother and daughterboards.